The saintly vānaprastha, practicing severe penances and accepting only the bare necessities of life, becomes so emaciated that he appears to be mere skin and bones. Thus worshiping Me through severe penances, he goes to the Maharloka planet and then directly achieves Me.

Purport:

A vānaprastha who develops pure devotional service achieves the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, while in the vānaprastha stage of life. One who does not become completely Kṛṣṇa conscious, however, first goes to the planet Maharloka, or Ṛṣiloka, and from there directly achieves Lord Kṛṣṇa.

One achieves Maharloka, or Ṛṣiloka, through strict observance of positive and negative regulations. However, without developing a taste for chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ), it is not possible to achieve the perfect liberation of going back home, back to Godhead. Therefore, on the Maharloka planet the unsuccessful sage gives more attention to chanting and hearing, and thus he gradually develops pure love of Godhead.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna ConsciousnessContent used with permission of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc. www.Krishna.com All rights reserved.